Apple TV+ is free this weekend. Here's what we'd watch

Subscribing to every streaming service out there is not an option for most people. It just isn't. They're too expensive, there are too many, and it's also just a lot of work to keep track of so many options and apps and interfaces. Some folks pick and choose, while some folks use the rotation method (service #1 for a few months to catch up, then service #2 for a few months to watch their stuff, and so forth).

Apple TV+ is free this weekend for anybody who has an Apple ID. It's a service that has not taken off the way some people thought it might, despite having some successes — Ted Lasso in particular. I'm not here to tell you to pick this service over any other one, or to pay for it at all. But I am here to give you a little advice on what might be worth using this free weekend to catch, since they're giving it away.

Some things (aside from Ted Lasso) have gotten a ton of good press already. Severance is a spooky, beautifully designed drama/sci-fi story about the drudgery of office life, and it's starting again in a couple weeks, so now could be the perfect time to catch up. Pachinko is a really moving saga based on Min Jin Lee's novel of the same name. My current favorite show, if I had to name one, is Shrinking, a very funny and often very emotionally rich story about a bunch of great characters, many of them therapists — it also features my favorite Harrison Ford performance in years and years and years. Bad Sisters, especially the first season, is a delicious and fabulously performed story of devoted siblings getting the better of a terrible, terrible husband.

Other favorites of the TV critics I know: Dickinson, Slow Horses, For All Mankind, Silo, and this year's Cate Blanchett drama Disclaimer. And they've got movies, too: Coda won best picture at the 2022 Oscars, after all.

But maybe you feel like "yes, yes, I've heard of all those things." So let me spotlight a handful of other Apple offerings that haven't gotten quite as much attention that you might enjoy.

• The Afterparty: This series stars a murderer's row of comic actors — in the first season it was folks like Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, John Early, Ike Barinholtz, Tiya Sircar and Ilana Glazer — in an actual murder mystery that takes place at a high school reunion. Every episode is done in a different genre (musical, action picture, rom-com). It's a lot of fun, and if you enjoy comic mysteries as much as I do, it might be right up your alley. 

• Platonic: I was a big fan of this show, starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as best friends who reunite after a long time out of touch. It's really funny, but it also has a nice feel for actual platonic friendships (it is not about whether they are going to kiss) and their complications. If you like your comedies to be proudly and brightly funny rather than heavy and high-concept, give it a shot. 
  
• Sharper: This film is a thriller that I feel like absolutely nobody saw except me — but again, it was right up my alley. It's a twisty story about New York scammers starring Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan and Justice Smith. There are reversals and betrayals and ooh, it was kinda fun. 
  
• Flora and Son: This movie is about a single mom, played by Eve Hewson, who takes guitar lessons remotely with a laid-back guy played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was written and directed by John Carney, who made Once and Sing Street, so you are in good hands. He just has a way with big musical moments, and I really enjoyed where this one ended up. 
  
• Boys State and Girls State: Boys State and Girls State are twin documentaries about leadership programs for high school students, and both are absorbing and sobering, particularly when seen side-by-side. 

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